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Pakistan agrees not to invite Hurriyat

K J M Varma in Islamabad

The row between Delhi and Islamabad over inviting leaders of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference to meet President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan during his forthcoming visit to India has been settled with Islamabad agreeing not to do so.

Pakistani officials, confirming media reports on Sunday, said they were no longer pushing for a meeting between Hurriyat leaders and General Musharraf. "This proposition not to invite Hurriyat leaders has been made to us by India and we have accepted it," they said.

The English-language daily Dawn quoted a senior official as having said, "We are not pressing hard for the meeting. We expected that the Indians would show better judgement and not impede the APHC's formal meeting with Musharraf. That did not happen. So at this point our focus is on the main summit."

India sent strong messages to Pakistan though diplomatic channels that it would not permit the Kashmiri separatists to meet Musharraf even if they were invited for a 'high tea' reception being hosted by High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi in New Delhi on July 14.

The official, however, denied that Pakistan, by dropping the proposal for a formal Hurriyat-Musharraf meeting, had accepted New Delhi's position on Kashmir.

"Our position is that Kashmiris are an integral part of any final solution to the Kashmir problem. We have kept Kashmiri leaders abreast of all new developments on this issue. We would try to press for some sort of a tripartite framework once the two leaders meet in India," he was quoted as saying.

"However, at this point the most important concern is to establish mutual trust between India and Pakistan. The rest will follow," he added.

The official said the idea for the Hurriyat-Musharraf meeting was conveyed to India by High Commissioner Qazi. At that time it was hoped that this was a viable way to keep the Kashmiris plugged into the dialogue between the two countries.

"We were also hoping that the tripartite peace initiative that got stuck on New Delhi's refusal to give the Hurriyat delegation permission to visit Pakistan could be revived this way," he added.

PTI

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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